Italian President Warns of Violent Unrest in 2014 "This is becoming an anti-EU movement"

President Giorgio Napolitano has warned
that Italy faces violent civil unrest in 2014 as anti-EU demonstrations
intensify in response to the country's worsening economy and a total
loss of faith in the state.

"The crisis affecting the euro
zone has put a strain on social cohesion. The most detailed forecasts
for 2014 indicate a risk of widespread social tension and unrest: a
risk that must been kept in mind and confronted in Italy," Napolitano
said during an address at his presidential palace in Rome, adding that
citizens "could get involved in haphazard and even violent protests,
in an extreme and unfruitful surge of total opposition to politics and
institutions".

As
we reported last week, anti-EU sentiment is now so prevalent amongst
Italians that riot police sent to harass protesters in some cities are
removing their helmets and joining with the demonstrators.

The country has been rocked with a prolonged
"pitchfork" (Forconi) revolt over fuel prices, globalization,
soaring unemployment, and the European Union’s draconian austerity
measures, with a diverse group of Italians, from farmers to students,
coming together under one umbrella.

The Telegraph's
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard notes how, "This is becoming an anti-EU
movement. One of the Forconi leaders has just been arrested for climbing
up the EU offices in Rome and ripping down Europe’s blue and gold
flag."

Italian youth unemployment is over 40
per cent as the country remains embroiled in a deep recession, while
the overall jobless figure hit a record high of 12.5 per cent at the
end of October. A staggering 134 retail outlets in Italy are
closed every day and business failures are up 10 per cent since
last year alone.

Evans-Pritchard also points out that
while Napolitano is concerned about the potential for domestic disorder,
he offers no solution whatsoever for Italy's predicament because he
remains a vehement supporter of the very same EU-friendly economic policies
that got the country into this mess in the first place.

While the threat of violent domestic
disorder across the European Union has been voiced by analysts for years,
it's rare for presidents to join the chorus.